In times of need (Metaphor)
Jack can’t stop worrying about the future. The man is ready to work day and night to provide his family with food and a roof over their heads. He knows that absence of education is the main reason why he – hard-working and diligent – can’t achieve more, so the man feels insecure. Jack lives in fear of “a rainy day” that is going to come. He is not only getting ready for a rainy day but teaches his son to do the same, to be always prepared for future difficulties.
Hard-working (Metaphor)
Jack can squeeze “blood from a stone.” He worked in the most dangerous districts where people could “set their dogs to sink their teeth into his persistent Jewish ass,” but even those terrible conditions couldn’t prevent him from doing his job. He knew that he didn’t have a better option, so the man did everything he could to keep the job. The company also knew that he was the only one who could work “such barren territory with such incredible results,” so they “where they had him they kept him.”
Oppression (Metaphor)
Alex knew that his parents loved him more than anything in that world, but it didn’t make him feel better, for his parents’ love for him was oppressive. He needed privacy, freedom, and some independence. He wanted to make his own decision. Unfortunately for Alex, his parents couldn’t even grasp the significance of privacy. They wanted Alex to be an improved version of themselves. Alex’s conscience was filled with “the guilt, the fears,” “the terror bred” into “his bones.”
Watchful (Simile)
According to Alex, his mother is a real superwoman. She could bake the tastiest cakes, clean their little flat so good that one could eat off the floor, she could do everything. Sophie is responsible for ensuring that all the traditions are maintained properly. She watches the butcher, “like a hawk,” to be certain that he doesn’t forget to put her “chopped meat through the kosher grinder.”
Special and precious (Simile)
Alex has a lot of questions for all Jewish mothers. He has been questioning his mother’s methods of upbringing all his life. He suffers from mixed feelings. On the one hand, he loves his mother immensely, but on the other hand, he can’t stand her oppressive character. Alex can’t understand, why Jewish mothers make their sons believe that they are “unique as unicorns,” but never let them forget that they are “helpless, selfish, evil little shits.”
Clueless (Simile)
Just like his parents always wanted, Alex is an A-student. The only thing that his parents couldn’t predict is that school is going to change Alex’s view on life and Judaism. Alex resents the lifestyle of his parents, their narrow-mindedness, so he refuses to obey their commands. He hasn’t even read the Torah. “A’s student,” his father says, “but in life he’s as ignorant as the day he was born.”
